Essie Matte About You

...and the quest for unique nail polish continues! Look at what I finally got in the mail today:

Essie matte finisher! I had seen matte polish before on Tumblr, and ever since I saw it in black, I knew I had to at least try it, though we've already established that my color isn't black. Haha! So i looked around online, placed an order for my polish and waited patiently for it to arrive.

I was a little disappointed though, because as you can see in the photo above, it leaked around the container! Boooo. But I didn't get discouraged, I peeled it off and went straight to my mom's parlor bag to look for a shade that I was feeling today.

This is what I came up with. (L-R) OPI two-way base coat, OPI Red, OPI Didgeridoo Your Nails, Essie Matte About You. The Didgeridoo Your Nails is actually my very own shade, it's the shade I usually have one when I'm not feeling very loud or red.

This is how it looked on my nails. (L-R) OPI Red, OPI Red with Essie Matte About You topcoat, OPI Didgeridoo Your Nails, OPI Didgeridoo Your Nails with Essie Matte about You topcoat. Huh, they look so good in photos! I didn't like the look of the red so much in person, but instantly fell in love with the pink! :) So pink it was.

It's very important to always follow directions, especially with a new product. I learned that if you apply too many coats, and thick ones at that, the colored polish sticks to the brush of the Matte About You. So I learned to remember where I painted already and to make nice, even strokes.

So, here's the look! Without flash:

And now here with flash:

The downside of matte nail polish is that it works exactly like matte lipstick, that if you have cracked or chapped lips, it will definitely show! I must admit that I removed this right away because even though it's not so evident in my photos, I didn't apply the polish very well. Since I'm in a course that requires a lot of hand-work (Architecture), I'm always looking at my nails and am often OC with them. So I'm sorry, I just had to remove this manicure. Haha!

So the final verdict: do I like it? I love it! BUT I won't ever apply it myself. So I'll have to wait for my next manicure at the parlor to have this done again, even though it's my polishes they'll be using. :)

'til my next find! xx

OPI Black Shatter by Katy Perry

So as I predicted in my last entry, within two days my nail polish was somehow chipped. :\ Great going, self! Haha

The chips aren't as seen here but when I'm holding my macaron you can really see it. Hassle. :(

Good thing my Shatter fairy came to me with a surprise! Yaaaaayyy :D I'd been looking for these for a while and apparently, one of my friends was so desperate to get her hands on them (or rather, them on her hands! Haha) that she had to order a whole lot of bottles in bulk for it to be shipped here to the Philippines, and crazy girl actually did! But had she not done that, I would never have gotten my polish fix :D

Honestly, this shade is not me at all. :| Haha! It's my first time to EVER have black polish, or any dark color for that matter on my nails. I had heard about nail polish that cracks by itself, and when I heard that Katy Perry collaborated with OPI to make one, I was instantly sold. I heard about this as early as October, but never really took initiative to buy it until I mentioned it to some friends and found out that we knew someone who was selling. Haha!

So here it is! Isn't it amazing, how girly hot pink can instantly turn punk rock with just a bit of black? Actually, not a bit. A LOT of black! Haha! Right after I had my dinner I applied the shatter on my nails. Here you can see it without the top coat, so it's a little matte. I read around that it flakes off if not sealed off with a top coat, so I was sure to put that on.

This is what the finished product looks like when dry and ready. What impressed me most is how fast the actual polish dries and how it cracks right before your eyes! I must say that I didn't really like it at first. It's so not me! But after a few hours of looking at my nails from time to time, they grew on me. Haha! I will look for a better color combination eventually though. I'm just saving a manicure gone bad here. :P

I also wanted to show you guys the difference with applying one thick coat and a thinner coat. With the thick coat, the pieces are bigger, especially seen on my middle fingernail. On the thinner coat, the breaks are smaller (and nicer, in my opinion) so the goal isn't really to cover the entire nail as if you're painting it with a regular polish. It will look good, no matter how sloppily you put it on! That's also one thing that I like about this Shatter. You don't have to apply it evenly or nicely, either way it'll look good :)

So there, hope you guys like it! Like I said, I'll like it better when I find a better color combination. HAHA :)

For those interested in buying a bottle of OPI Black Shatter, please text Gabbie at 0917 562 3020.

OPI polish

So here's a more girly post :) I was having my nails done, and I didn't feel like my usual shade of pink. I wanted a stronger pink this time, quite close to red. These were the top 3 shades that I picked:

(L-R) Cara Mia Crimson, Dutch Tulips and Cajun Shrimp

It's already my second time to pick the Cajun Shrimp along with other shades, but I didn't decide to use it again because on my nails it was a little too orange. It wasn't in the pink family actually. So Between the Cara Mia Crimson and Dutch Tulips, I ended up with...

Dutch Tulips! I didn't like the Cara Mia Crimson either because it had a little bit of a sparkle. I was feeling like a flat pop of color that day. And as always, I'm really hoping and praying that this polish stays chip-free for more than three days. Actually, I'm lucky if I can even get past a day without chipping it! Working with so many metal rulers, pencils and the like can mess up a manicure really bad.

I know that there's a polish craze going on right now, particularly affordable ones like the 99 Php Elianto shades, but I'm too scared to try those because like I said, my polish chips off very easily. I only trust two brands to stay on for good, namely OPI (of course) and China Glaze. Another thing that I love about OPI are their quirky color names. One of my dream jobs, actually is to be on the naming team for OPI! Haha, dreaming is free.

Well 'til the next post. If this wasn't enough for you, let me SHATTER your minds with something new in a day or two! I'm so excited to reveal this baby as soon as I get it :D